All five of the Henry County football teams in action this weekend

MPN file photoDallas Bell (pictured) and New London can move to 2-0 with a win at Van Buren on Friday night.

By Andy Krutsinger, Mt. Pleasant News

For the first time this fall, all five area football teams will be on the gridiron in the same weekend.

Mt. Pleasant and WACO will host non-district oponnents. Winfield-Mt. Union, New London and Iowa Wesleyan will all be on the road.

This week will mark the home opener for Mt. Pleasant and the season opener for IW. New London will be playing their first road game and both WACO and W-MU will continue to look for their first wins in their third game.

Mt. Pleasant has not started the season 2-0 since the 2008-2009 team that went undefeated in the regular season. The Panthers will attempt to do so against Mediapolis on Friday night.

The Bulldogs are also 1-0 after a comeback win against West Burlington/Notre Dame last week. In the 2016 game at Mediapolis, the Panthers torched the Bulldog defense for over 300 yards and five touchdowns on the ground en route to a 32-14 win.

In another battle of 1-0 teams, New London will take on Van Buren in Keosaqua. The Warriors topped Cardinal on the road in week one and will be looking for revenge over the Tigers after New London put the paws on them in 2016.

Last year the Tigers blistered Van Buren 76-6 behind 380 rushing yards. Keonta Luckett had 160 yards and three touchdowns on the ground in that game and Mason Porter caught four passes for 98 yards and three scores of his own.

Winfield-Mt. Union wil be looking for a little payback against Wapello after falling 48-0 in their 2016 home opener against the Indians. Wapello ran for 188 yards and five touchdowns in that game. Both teams are still looking for their first win this season.

WACO has started the season 0-2 for the second straight year, but they will be licking their chops this week as they face a Tri-County team who is yet to score this season.

The Warriors rolled over Tri-County 74-12 last year. They ran for 277 yards and seven touchdowns to pick up their first win, and hope to replicate that performance this Friday.

An IW team who brings a big recruiting class into the 2017 season will be looking for some revenge of their own against Cornell College in their season opener. The Tigers were topped 51-21 last season, giving up 406 yards of total offense in the loss.

The offense will need to play a little sharper Saturday than they did in the opener last season. Cornell came away with six sacks and two interceptions against IW in 2016.

WACO, Winfield-Mt. Union and New London will kick off at 7 p.m., on Friday Sept. 1. Mt. Pleasant kicks off 30 minutes later at 7:30 p.m., and IW will be playing a night game, starting at 7 p.m., on Saturday, Sept. 2.